The last thing I published before the hiatus (interregnum? Period of indolence?) was a review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Several other pop culture blockbusters have been released since them, so let me tell ya what I thought:

Captain America: Civil War: Critically important to the ongoing MCU story. You should check it out.

Doctor Strange: Hoo boy, this is a visual extravaganza. Benny C. was born to play this role, IMO. Check it out.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: See it for the storytelling, because (SPOILER ALERT!!) everyone dies at the end. But check it out, as long as you aren’t overly creeped out by the uncanny valley of CGI replications of actual people. (Aside: You should check out some of Peter Cushing’s work where he plays completely against type. His continually befuddled scientist in “At the Earth’s Core” is, well, something to behold. And there’s bonus Doug McClure and Caroline Munro and rubber monsters. Definitely check that one out!)

Deadpool: Fun, but naughty. Don’t take the kids. Seriously, don’t take the kids, but check it out.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2: Beautiful, fun, but a smidgen disjointed. I suspect Peter Quill will find a way back to some of that awesome power eventually. And Ego should have been riding around in a Burt Reynolds Screaming Chicken Trans Am, not a Mustang II. But still, check it out.

Spider Man: Homecoming: Another solid reboot of this franchise. I look forward to them trying it again in about 2025. There never was a reason for Aunt May to be 200 years old, so I strongly support the casting of Marisa Tomei in the role. And Michael Keaton is really good. So check it out.

Thor: Ragnarok: Big big fun! You kind of have to see this to understand Bruce Banner/Hulk’s deal in a later movie, so once again, check it out.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: This movie. Hmm. This movie. Lots of dumb and/or annoying stuff in this movie. Excessive slapstick. Sea cows with green milk. An entire subplot that goes nowhere important. Big Bad villain that we never really learned anything about is killed without us really learning anything about him. A rather Grandma-ish Leia. (RIP Carrie, I so desperately wish that hadn’t been your last performance in this series). Sloooooow speed space chases involving hyperspace-capable ships and lots of shouting. Dumb stuff.

But ya know, as much as I don’t like the character of Emo Ben Solo, his connection to Rey is no doubt going to be important to the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga. And if you don’t like the way Luke was portrayed, well, you don’t know how depression works. A partly-trained Jedi starts a new academy, it crashes and burns spectacularly, so he decides to walk away so he doesn’t screw anything else up. (Been there, done that). Yet sometimes, we find a way to rise above that and come back to make a difference in the end. And that is Luke’s story. I hope he comes back with some Force Ghost wisdom in Episode IX, and brings Yoda, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Anakin, and ever Mace MFing Windu along for the ride. Free your mind and check it out.

Black Panther: An incredible story that leaves you full of hope. I want to go to Wakanda. Check it out.

Avengers: Infinity War: An incredible story that somehow gives all these people a reasonable amount of screen time. And then you walk out without hope (other than the fact that this is, after all, a comic book movie, where universe-destroying events usually gets sorted out in a couple of issues.) Imagine it’s 1980, and you’ve just walked out of The Empire Strikes Back, and you’re sure Luke is dead (assume we didn’t see him grab the last antenna, so that plot point was left dangling) and you have to wait three years to see the next one. And then someone stole your puppy. That’s what the end of this movie is like, and I’m kind of pissed at the Russos for jerking our emotions around like this. They’d better stick the landing. Check it out so you won’t be left out of conversations for the next year.

There you go. My cold to slightly lukewarm takes on every Great Big Movie released since late 2015. Well, the ones I saw, anyway.

So. It’s been two and a half years since I published anything. Some of that was distraction, some of that was realizing no one really needed to read any of the angry political screeds I started and never quite finished. There are plenty of people doing that better than I ever could.

How’ve ya been? I’m OK, I guess. I herniated a disc last summer, which led to crippling leg pain, which led to sitting in a chair for a lot of August-January, which led to back surgery in February. The incisions have healed, but the back muscles are still a little weak and I’m trying to get in something close to decent cardiovascular shape.

Like a lot of people, I have a fair amount of anxiety these days. It’s been more than a little hard to deal with seeing all the things I thought were great about this country thrown away in favor of a slovenly, half-assed authoritarianism. But other, better writers have covered that. Let’s just say I don’t trust a lot of people or believe in a lot of things anymore, and move on.

So, in an attempt to say sane, I find other distractions. I dusted off my drum set and started playing, badly. At the age of 52, I’ve started seriously reading comic books. I built a ton of LEGO while recovering from the back surgery. I’ll probably write about all of those things in the near future.

Get ’em while they’re hot! Get ’em while they’re buttered! (Hat tip to Bugs Bunny.)

NOTE: This contains spoilers. So read no further if that kind of thing annoys you.
As a fully engaged member of the “saw it in the theater in ’77, shut up you punks” generation, I saw the new Star Wars movie the other night, and will probably see it another time or two while it’s in theaters. It was pretty much everything I was hoping it would be, and as a result I can finally see my way to forgiving JJ Abrams for the awful mess and general insult to Trekkies that was Star Trek: Mission Impossible, errrr, Into Darkness. But it did leave me with some thoughts and/or questions…

Snoke. Who is he? (And Snoke? Really? That’s a name with George Lucas written all over it.) How was he able to lure Ben Solo to the Dark Side? Did no one give Han & Leia a copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting an Extremely Force-Sensitive Child” at the baby shower?
Judging by the scar tissue, Snoke’s seen some stuff. I hope the Disney storytelling machine is cranking out backstory for us.

Rey. She’s awesome. So awesome that someone is likely working on a YouTube video setting clips of Rey’s badassery to No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” as I write this. It will get millions of hits and be endlessly shared on by tween girls on whichever social media thing they use these days.
It would be logical for Rey to be Luke’s daughter, but I hope they don’t go that direction. But given that Daisy Ridley looks like she could be related to both Natalie Portman and a young Carrie Fisher, I doubt I get my wish.

Ben Solo, aka Kylo: Impetuous behavior in someone very sensitive to the Force? That never ends well.

The old gang: Han’s story is now complete. I hope it pays off a little bit better before this trilogy is done. Carrie Fisher might want to brush up on her acting if Leia’s going to play a bigger part in this. And Luke….that was a perfect reveal. I look forward to seeing his story in a couple of years. C-3PO has been more annoying than useful to the story since ROTJ, so at least that tradition continues. I also enjoyed all the callbacks, especially the way they reinforced the horrible fashion sense of the Republic/Resistance.

Yes, there are plenty of nits you can pick at this movie. But they’re mostly the same nits you could’ve picked in 1977, and that seems to have worked out OK.

I’ll probably have more thoughts after a rewatch or two, but that’s all for now.

It’s been a ludicrously busy Summer and Fall for me, and I have let the blogging slip. Watch this space for more regular posting, I promise for real this time. Some thoughts on fandom (of all sorts) have been rolling around in my head, watch for it in the next couple of days.

We lost our dog a few weeks ago. She was nearly 15 years old, and so had a long and happy life with us. We all grieved, but I have learned that the best way to keep the wife and kids happy is to jump right back into the canine saddle. (The many emails and texts with links to pictures of dogs at the local shelter may have been a clue…)

Last weekend, the college boy came home and we trekked to the shelter to pick out a new companion, a four-month-old lab/husky mix which we have named Teddy. Teddy is a 28-pound bundle of fur, energy, and urine, and I haven’t had to pay so much undivided attention to a member of this household since the kids were at the crawling stage. At least the kids wore diapers…..

The wife and kids have a few more weeks of school, so if you deal with me in “real life” over the next month, be patient. I’m probably cleaning up dog pee, throwing a ball, or going for a walk. And mostly loving every minute of it. Mostly.

I’m going deep down in the trenches of GI Joe history, so consider yourself warned.

Apart from the toys, I have also accumulated a fair amount of GI Joe-related ephemera over my 18+ years of collecting. One of the more interesting is this retail price list and replacement parts list, which appears to be from 1970. (Click to embiggen)

The first page is a list of suggested retail prices of what should be available at stores. It’s quite early in the Adventure Team run of GI Joe, as the lineup is very basic – all they list are the core figures, the bigger boxed sets, the Action Pack accessories, the classic ATV, and the perennial foot locker. It also includes some leftovers from the 1964-1968 Military and 1969 “Adventures Of” series that didn’t carry on into the 70s. Wouldn’t you like to go back to 1970 and pick up a Mouth of Doom for $7? If you brought back a few cases of Flying Space Adventure at $9.50 per set, you could buy yourself a pretty nice car with the proceeds from selling them now. Two things I noticed: Hasbro refers to the “Man of Action” figure as simply “GI Joe”, and there’s one thing missing….the Five Star Jeep. Does this mean that there was a time, however brief, it wasn’t in the lineup?

Pages 2 and 3 are a replacement parts price list. If I had known this was possible at the time, I would have scraped up all my loose change to buy M-1 rifles and carbines at two for a quarter, because my Adventure Team was woefully short on firepower in the early 70s. I’m quite amused by the calculations of the original owner of this sheet, who was plotting to save himself almost five bucks off the price off Eight Ropes of Danger by ordering the key pieces separately. (Hey, kid, the octopus and treasure chest were great accessories! Don’t sell yourself short!)

That concludes this trip down memory lane. My collecting friends can discuss this in the usual places.